From 31 March our new commercial partner Teleperformance Ltd will take over the running of our Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Lilongwe. They have subcontracted to the current supplier – FedEx – so there will be no change in the day to day management of the VAC.

The Visa Application Centre will remain at its current location at Unit 2, Teveta House, City Centre, Lilongwe. We are making the following changes to the visa service that we offer:

User Pays charges. From 31 March, there will be a charge of £59 to use the Visa Application Centre in Lilongwe. This will be in addition to the visa fee and will be charged at the point of booking the appointment and will cover the cost of providing the application submission facilities in Lilongwe. Your appointment at this Visa Application Centre will not be honoured if this fee is not paid.

The new service will facilitate a more streamlined process, enabling applications to be transferred between the Visa Application Centre and the decision making hub in Pretoria more quickly and efficiently.

The UK continues to retain free to use Visa Application Centres in high-volume locations across the globe. However, it is not possible to maintain this in all locations, particularly where the volume of applications is lower.

We recognise that currently customers applying for UK Visas in Malawi do not pay an additional fee to use the Visa Application Centre in Lilongwe. The charge being implemented is solely to cover the costs of operating in these locations and the cost of the return courier service directly back to the customer

Once the UK Visa Application is submitted in Lilongwe the completed applications, which will include all supporting documentation and the customer’s passport, will then be forwarded to the Decision Making Centre in Pretoria by commercial courier, where they will be considered by Entry Clearance Staff. Decisions will then be returned directly to the customer by courier. Processing target times will remain unchanged and Visa Application Centre staff will continue to play no part in the decision making process.

We will work closely with our Commercial Partners to ensure continuity of service during the transition period

2 Comments

I would like to book an appointment on Friday, 18June, 2016. We are three of us and are intending to travel to the UK on 9th September, returning to Malawi on 29th same month. What we be having church meetings. This is on invitation by Zambesi Mission. What type of form do we need to fill?